Saturday, August 30, 2014

Tea and wine share many similarities. The pairing of food and tea follows the same functions as with wine has. It's in Chaozhou, the place where gongfu cha originated, that the Chinese have pushed the interactions between fine tea and food the furthest. In traditional Teochew restaurants (= serving Chaozhou/Chaoshan cuisine), a strongly roasted Oolong is served when guests arrive.

1. Tea as appetizer

This strong Oolong used to be a Yan Cha for the best restaurants or a roasted Tie Guan Yin. The function of this tea is like a Champagne during an aperitif. It's goal is to make you feel hungry. That's why one or two cups are sufficient -we don't want to feel full with tea-. But it should be very strong, stronger than when we brew the tea for its own sake. This means using more leaves than usual.

Wuyi Yan Cha

2. Tea as flavor enhancer

The second possible function for tea is to enhance the flavors of the food. This is the result of good pairing of tea and food. In this case, the tea acts a little bit like a sauce that brings new flavors, or helps underline those present in the food.

For instance, the Yan Cha we had as appetizer also underlined the salty sea freshness of the tapenade. And with the hummus, it's the spiciness of the garlic that came alive in the mouth! With a good pairing, 1 +1 = 3 or more!

Which teas pair which food the best is still very new field of trial and research. On that subject, Teaparker has written 3 books (puerh, Oolong and red tea) in Chinese. And in France, Lydia Gautier has also written 'Thés et Mets: subtiles alliances'. There are no rules like for wine (white for seafood and red for meat), but the principle guiding the pairing is similar: the strength of the tea should match the strength of the taste of the food.

Duck liver

Very powerful food like duck liver is still better matched with a sweet, late harvest (vendanges tardives) white wine like a Sauternes or Tokaji.

However, a lighter fish can nicely paired with a nice Oriental Beauty Oolong. The lightness of Oolong underlines the finesse of the fish. And at the same time, the wonderful flavors of the Oriental Beauty add more flavors to the many spices/vegetables that were used to prepare this fish's sauce (saffron, dates, mushrooms, ginger, carrots...)

3. Tea as digestive drink

At the end of a bigger/better than usual meal, you realize that you had a spoon or a fork too much. This was the case for the nice lunch we had last Sunday! (I didn't mention the 4 or 5 desserts we had...) At this point, you need to gather some energy to get up, and you wish to do so feeling fresh, with a clean taste in the mouth. So, for the ending, our hostess brewed a Hungshui Oolong from Yong Lung.

This tea's function is similar to that of a brandy at the end of a meal. It brings a last touch of sweetness and richness, but at the same time it cleanses the mouth and the throat. The whole body receives a natural energy that helps the digestion. In the case of tea (vs a liquor) you will even have a clearer mind!

Saturday, August 23, 2014

These leaves are a Bai Ji Guan Yan Cha from spring 2012. This type of cultivar produces one of the lightest and finest tea in Wuyi. Its roasting level is lower than that of Shuixian or Rouguei. And it's so pure and good that I feel comfortable not using an Yixing teapot, but a gold plated silver teapot.

Another reason for using this small teapot is its great 'fuel efficiency'! Real Yan Cha is much more expensive than Taiwan's high mountain Oolong. The high heat conductivity of silver translates into a greater flavor extraction capability. This means that fewer leaves suffice for a good brew.

Wuyi Yan Cha is a tea for special moments. It's not because the accessories are special that the tea is. It's because the leaves are great that they call for special accessories like on this Chaxi. Getting the most out of them. Making the most out of time. Pushing the limits of what's possible.

We can't always have what's best. Often, what's simply good is already a wonderful blessing. But special occasions call for the extraordinary.

Wuyi YanCha questions preconceived truths and experience about what tea brewing. That's one of the reasons that makes it fascinating. Normally, when we brew tea leaves, we first obtain scents and, as we prolong the brew, we then obtain a taste that grows stronger. Finding the right moment to stop the brew before the taste gets too concentrated is the goal of our brewing technique. Stop too early and you can smell the tea, but you can't feel it's taste. Stop too late and everything is too saturated, like the noise of music pushed beyond what the speakers can handle.

But with Yan Cha like this Bai Ji Guan, there's something incomprehensible that can happen if the tea is brewed well: the scent is there, but the taste seems absent at first before it hits you in the chest and then gives you a wonderfully relaxing feeling in your whole body. The mouth is clean and light. All you feel is a sweet salivation as if a spring fountain had been unlocked!

A vibrant fragrance, a pure taste, a comfortable feeling, fresh and bright colors: this Chaxi appeals to all senses! A gift of life on a special occasion...

Thursday, August 14, 2014

I received a call for help from a fellow tea lover and tea seller who has been re-selling my teas for several years in Europe:

"(...)The problem is I am still
struggling to sell Taiwan teas in solid amounts, because there is too
much cheap competition on market and people prefer cheap over good
here... I
simply do not know how to break the wall of this low-price focus on my
customers side and how to beat the competition which is really big here
(about 10 wholesalers selling Taiwan teas here, maybe more, that's simply
too too much for such a small market...)

I
would like to sell your teas and put the time and effort into it,
because honestly I love your teas and what I tasted, they are the best I
can have. And I like to sell the best. And I like to work with you so
much. So if you would have any idea, about what to do or maybe any kind
of support you could give me... Every idea or every
advice would be great help :-).

Thank you so much."

Well, thank you for your frank question and positive feedback about my teas. I don't think there is a simple solution to make people more sensitive to quality than to price. (If my readers have ideas, we'd be glad to read yours!)

Quality becomes the focus when tea becomes a pleasure on its own rather than just another beverage. Low quality can be forgiven if it's a simple drink that offers a variation to water or coffee. However, low quality becomes unbearable once tea takes the center stage, especially if you have experienced better tea. That's why it's so important to educate, almost evangelize, people's taste with superior teas. So, continue to teach your customers.

In 'The Count of Monte Cristo' by Alexandre Dumas, I was recently reminded of an early 19th century tradition meant to defend your honor: the duel. For obvious reasons, I'm not suggesting that you kill your competitors! However, you can kill their teas by offering a duel between their teas and ours. This is the weapon that you'll use:

2 white porcelain competition sets. One for each tea. 3 grams of leaves. And 6 minutes of brewing with boiling water. This is the standard for tea competitions in Taiwan. This single brew aims at extracting most flavors from the leaves. It's by far not the best way to brew tea, but it's one of the fastest and easiest way to get to know a tea and evaluate its quality.

During tea classes with your customers, you should systematically make such duels between our tea and similar teas from the competition. People quickly tire if they hear the vendor say that his tea is the best. It's better to let them experience the difference for themselves. For a minimum cost/fee, you can make such duels happen. Think of some incentive for these side by side comparisons. And inform your customers about the possibility of making these duels.

My other advice is that you continue to help teach your customers how to brew tea the best way possible. Show them that they can be inspired and creative with their Chaxi. Tea appeals to all our senses and we naturally strive for quality when we pursue the pleasures of real tea!

Tuesday, August 05, 2014

In Changhua county, near Huatan, there's a old and declining industry linked to tea: flower growers! In summer, they provide the flowers with which common tea leaves and stems are enhanced naturally with the scents of freshly harvested flowers. This tea is often called '香片'Xiāngpiàn, fragrant petals, in Taiwan. For many old Chinese who don't drink Oolong, this is what they drink every day.

There are many grades and quality levels for scented tea.

* The quality of the leaves varies. By definition, the best leaves taste best on their own, so it's never the highest grade, the best leaves that are taken to make scented leaves. With scented tea, it's not so much about the tea than it is about the scent (of the flowers). Nevertheless, there are big differences if the material used is stems or spring green tea buds.

* The quality varies with the flower used. The finest is made with jasmine flowers.They are smaller than the gardenia (aka cape-jasmine) and their fragrance is more refined. Since they are smaller, it takes more time to harvest them, which increases their cost.
The cheapest way to make scented tea, though, is with the addition of artificial flavors and this has caused the decline of the jasmine flower plantations.

Small jasmine bud on the left vs. gardenia (cape-jasmine) on the right

* The quality also greatly depends on how often the leaves are scented with flowers. The more often they are scented, the more flower fragrances they absorb. Tea scented 3 times will require 3 times more flowers than a tea just scented once. The weight won't change, because the flowers are sorted away after each scenting.

The scenting happens when the flowers are mixed with the leaves. This usually takes place at the night, when the buds harvested during the day open up and release their fragrances. In order to help the scents penetrate the leaves, they are often cut small (unless they are small buds). This increases the surface of the leaves that can absorb the scents. After each scenting, the flowers are separated from the leaves. This machine makes this operation and also sorts the leaves according to their size (that's why you can see 2 baskets):

The leaves are green tea buds and small leaves harvested this spring (2014) in SanHsia (Taiwan). You may notice that the color of the leaves and the brew isn't very green, but almost golden/orange.

Why? This is a jasmine tea that was scented 10 times! And it looks less green than the 'premium' version that was scented 6 times! The harvested flowers are fresh and contain a lot of moisture. When they are in contact with the tea leaves, this moisture and the high temperature of the Taiwan's summer nights produce some oxidation for the tea. That's why it's necessary to dry the tea leaves after each scenting, in order to get rid of this moisture. That's why the brew isn't light green, but turns golden.

Spent leaves turn green again. Oxidation was superficial

Jasmine tea is all about the wonderful, amazing fragrance of jasmine flowers in the cup!

But what about the taste? If you are used to drinking Oolong or puerh, there are good chances you will overbrew this tea and find it astringent. The reason for this is that the underlying leaves are originally green and many were cut to increase their absorption of scents. However, these cuts are why tannins are released faster in the brew. (That's also why hand harvested Oolong tastes sweeter than machine harvested Oolong).

Thus, we have to treat this tea as a very delicate green tea. To brew it well, use few leaves and don't let the leaves steep too long. Or don't use water that is too close to boiling. However, you can use the leaves several times because they contain a lot of fragrances.

It's not just my Chinese in-laws who drink jasmine tea daily, but also my parents (and especially my mother)! And they were drinking it long before I met my wife! I want my parents and parents in-law to drink the best possible jasmine tea! It's not their demand, but for me it's more than order. It's my duty as their son. And it has such a lovely fragrance...